The Cat in the Hat
The Cat in the Hat is the sixteenth Living Book, released in 1997, and originally written by Theodre "Dr. Seuss" Geisel in 1957. On a boring rainy day, the titular cat barges into the house with the two kids, where he tries to cheer them up by performing all sorts of crazy antics. Plot When Sally and Conrad are bored in their house on a rainy day with their mother leaving them, they feel there is nothing to do. Suddenly, a 6-foot tall cat wearing a hat comes into their house, telling them that even though it's not very sunny that day, there's still ways they could have fun. Their talking fish rejects this idea, but the cat tries to calm him by playing a game he calls "up-up-up with a fish," in which he balances the fish on an umbrella. After getting even more upset, the cat just tells him there's nothing to fear and he'll hold him up high while he balances on a ball. He begins to balance various other objects, until he finally can't take it anymore and loses control, causing everything to fall in the process. The fish falls into a teapot, with him entirely upset by the cat's antics. Despite being ordered out of the house, he chooses to stay and bring in a red box, carrying two guys he calls Thing 1 and Thing 2. He lets them out, revealing two short men in red clothing with crazy blue hair. The fish doesn't trust them, but the cat tries to assure "they are here to have fun on this wet, wet, wet day." Upon learning that their form of fun is flying kites indoors, the fish just gets even less convinced they're being safe. After bumping their kites all over the place, they soon find out their mother is about to make it home. In a desperate attempt, the narrator brings out a butterfly net to trap the things. The cat is distraught when he sees the two things trapped under his net, and walks out of the house disappointed. Although the kids and the fish are glad to see him gone, they have no clue how to handle the big mess the cat and the things created. Just then, the cat comes back in with a large vehichle, to pick everything up. He gets all of it cleared, and leaves just when their mother walks up to the front door. She then asks them how things went when they were gone, which is something left to the reader to decide how to answer. Characters *Sally *Conrad *Mother *The Cat in the Hat *The Fish *Thing 1 and Thing 2 *The Purple Bird (running gag) Trivia *This Living Book does not feature any minigames directly accessible from the menu, instead integrates small mini-games within the story. *This is the only Living Book to include two-part pages. *This is also the only Living Book to allow interaction to advance the story, besides just clicking the arrow. It is an alternative option though. *This is only the second Living Book to exclude a The End screen; it ends on a giant question mark and goes back to the menu. The only other Living Book to do this is Stellaluna. *From this game to the last game in the series, the byline changes from "A Random House/Broderbund Company" to "Broderbund Software, Inc." Category:Living Books Games